Treatment

Small, asymptomatic GISTs found in the course of tests for another condition may be approached with watchful waiting in carefully selected cases.

Surgery

Usually, large or symptomatic GISTs are surgically removed unless they are too large or they involve too many organs and tissues for surgery. Resection is also delayed or avoided in people whose general health makes any surgery too risky to undertake, as well as in those likely to have metastatic GISTs.

It's often possible to resect GISTs using minimally invasive surgery, which involves inserting a viewing tube (laparoscope) and surgical instruments through small incisions in the abdomen.

Targeted drug therapy

Targeted drug treatments focus on specific abnormalities present within cancer cells. By blocking these abnormalities, targeted drug treatments can cause cancer cells to die. For GISTs, the target of these drugs is an enzyme called tyrosine kinase that helps cancer cells grow.

Imatinib (Gleevec) is the first line targeted therapy used to prevent GIST recurrence after surgery. The drug is also used to shrink the tumor before surgery, in situations where surgery isn't possible, as well as for controlling recurrent GIST. Treatment generally continues as long as the drug is effective.

Other drugs that target tyrosine kinase might be recommended if your GIST doesn't respond to or becomes resistant to imatinib over time. Targeted drug therapy is an active area of cancer research and new medications are likely to be available in the future.